Junimea's Popular Prelections – Elements of Non-formal Adult Education in Romania

Junimea cultural society was founded in Iaşi, at the end of 1863, by Petre P. Carp, Titu Maiorescu, Iacob Negruzzi, Vasile Pogor, and Theodor G. Rosetti and developed its activity in multiple directions, organising weekly cultural meetings, delivering “popular prelections” with the intention of disseminating knowledge from various fields, editing cultural publications, setting up printing offices and educational institutions, supporting young writers, and offering scholarships abroad for the youth. By means of the series of conferences known as the “popular prelections” – one of the main cultural activities of this society – Junimea's members set themselves to popularise the latest acquisitions in the field of science and culture, the debates approaching a wide range of subjects (aesthetics, philosophy, education, history, philology and geography). This paper intends to highlight the impact that the popular prelections had on the Romanian cultural life and their contribution to the adult education in our country, during the second half of the 19th century.